How to Make Basic Liquid Soap (The Easy Way) I am so excited to finally have liquid soap up here, and in my bathroom at home.
Like many of you I’ve read about making my own liquid soap and though “Wow. That is a ridiculously involved process, and sounds way harder than bar soap… and maybe it’s just not worth the effort.” And who could blame us? The processes I found required hours of work and supervision, careful calculations that are different from bar soap, pH testing, neutralizing the final product with acid, and a lot of mess with a potato masher. Not this method. The primary difference between liquid soap and bar soap is the type of lye you use to convert the oils into soap. We started off by using almost all the same ingredients as my all-in-one bar.
Up next was putting the oils in my big soaping pot and melting them over medium heat. Once the oils had melted, in went the KOH solution. The mixture will look like curdled milk at first, with little wispy clumps of paler stuff floating in the oil. Homemade Soap Recipe with Herbs + Citrus. First up from the herb garden – my very own homemade soap with herbs and citrus!
I thought this would be a lovely homemade Mother’s Day or Teacher Appreciation gift. I picked up some plain, unscented glycerin soap and added herbs from the new garden and some citrus. I love the smell and bright green color of mint! Finely dice fresh mint and add to the soap after the glycerin is melted. I also diced up some fresh rosemary and combined it with lemon zest.
Recipe adapted from Martha Supplies needed Glycerin soap (sold at craft stores)Assorted herbs & citrus – I used basil, mint, rosemary, orange and lemonFood processorGlass bowl or measuring cupPlastic spoon or scraperSoaps molds – any plastic or cardboard container will doCooking spray Instructions 1. Put the soap blocks in glass bowl & melt in the microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. 2. While melting, puree the herbs and squeeze out excess water in a paper towel. Essential Oils for Soap Making. Essential oils work wonderfully in soap making.
They provide a natural way to add scent to your homemade soap recipes and the selection available is astounding. We now have access to scents that come from all corners of the planet and are widely used today in aromatherapy to help heal the body and mind. Happily, almost all soap making suppliers carry a large variety of essential oils at quite reasonable prices. Of course, prices do vary from oil to oil. Rose oil requires around 2000 lbs of rose petals to produce a single pound of essential oil which makes it quiet expensive. Historically, essential oils were categorized based on the musical scale system of top note, middle note and base note. Top notes are fleeting. Middle notes take longer to notice and provide body to a scent blend. Base notes are rich, heavy scents that are long lasting. To make a well balanced blend, it is a good idea to try to pick oils from each category. My best advice is to follow your nose. Sandy Maine's Basic 3-Oil Homemade Soap Recipe.
Easy Grocery Store Soap Making Ingredients. Do you want to try a batch of soap, but don't want to wait for oils to come from an online supplier?
Then this recipe is just for you. I created it using only oils that I found in my local supermarket. It's very similar to Sandy Maine's 3-Oil Recipe. The only ingredients that I didn't buy at the grocery store were the fragrance and the lye. Fragrance oils are available locally at a craft supply store or an online soap supply vendor. The Recipe 30% Olive Oil30% Lard25% Coconut Oil10% Sunflower Oil5% Castor OilConverting Percentages to Measurements I was only making a small, six-bar batch of this recipe, so I only used about 25 ounces of oils. 7.6 oz. Once you've assembled all of your ingredients, tools, materials and such, make your lye using Basic Lye Instructions and mix the soap using Basic Cold Process Soap Making Instructions. I didn't use any color or additives in this batch, but you could add whatever you liked. But what if I can't find one of these oils?